Saturday, 27 September 2014

It’s War... We’re Re-sitting That Exam

Parliament yesterday Voted 524 for, 43 against airstrikes on IS (Islamic State) targets. Prime Minister (left) Cameron's motion was
carried. This means War (by air strikes, without troops on the ground). There
is not a nice way to put it, and the majority in Parliament in support, is
overwhelming. Britain joins the Coalition
of Nations including local Middle Eastern States that will commerce
hostilities against IS. It’s as if
we were re-sitting an exam we have failed several times before.

RAF Tornado GR

Tornados could be bombing their targets within 24 to 48 hours.

The Coalition

Debate

The debate in Parliament yesterday was robust and deeply thoughtful. It lacked
the arrogance and haughtiness of earlier debates in Tony Blair's days,
characterised as they were by the attitude that the civilised West was entitled
to direct the destiny of the less "civilised" people in the Middle
East. The economic motives of the key actors in those days seemed to calibrate
their moral compass. Politicians this time considered the legality of the war,
the ends sought, mission creep, and the wider impacts in the Muslim world and
its reactions. If the economic motive has not entirely disappeared, it seemed
from the debate to have been moderated by humanitarian and other considerations
in the face of the undoubted brutality of IS actions in the occupied territories.

Syria will not be attacked, though there are significant IS assets there; another example of the allies caution round the boundaries of their military
action.

Map of Region via Daily Mail, UK

IS Objectives
But, IS has
achieved one objective. Despite the involvement of Muslim States in military
action, it will no doubt cast the war in the mould of an attack on Islam by the
West. There will be many takers for this argument based entirely on the regions
historical experience of the West, and deeply held, sometimes irrational fears.
How can the impacts of the actions that will follow be minimised? What lessons
are we yet to learn about dealings with the region? These questions will not go
away. Until they are answered we are in for a world of pain and destruction,
mostly of entirely innocent victims of the war to come.